Friday, March 5, 2010

I am almost at 4 months already....WHAT!??

Hello my beautiful family (and friends)!

So my companion thinks I´m a little bit crazy because I didn´t die the firstweek we got here. And now that I have talked to some more people about it, Ithink I am a bit abnormal. Don´t get me wrong, I for sure had moments whenI thought ´how in the world am I going to do this for the next 15 months´and ´i just don't want to walk ever again!´ But they were fleeting and I justwent forward. I was really tired, but I wasn´t dead exhausted like mostother people describe themselves being during the first weeks. I can onlyguess that its because you guys pray so much for me, or because Iinternalize too much and will have a break down in a few weeks ormonths....I´m going to hope for the first one!

So yeah. I´m doing good! I haven´t gotten too discouraged even though I knowI have LOTS (aka TONS & TONS) of things to learn. That's what the journey isfor, right?

Anyway, this email is going to be a bit more about cool and different thingsin Brazil than the work, but I wanted to give you some interesting facts!

1. Ants here are amazing! Maybe this happens in the US too but I´ve neverseen it before! The ants here carry HUGE objects with them back to theirhills! Big leaves and sticks! Things more than 25 times their size....isthat not amazing or what?! I´m going to take a picture next time I see itbecause the first time I didn´t have my camera with me and I was in awe.Seriously...super ants!

2. Oranges here aren´t orange. They have a little orange but are mostlygreen. Its very different but they still taste good!

3. For lots of inexpensive delicious fruit, Sao Paulo is NOT the place togo. This made me very very sad! We do get delicious papaya and mangos, butthe North and the South have the fruit that is just growing on trees as youwalk by and can just grab them off and eat them. Not the case here. Thefruit is a little expensive here and they don´t have all the yummy exotictypes for me to eat. I really want to travel all around Brazil after themission and have all the fruit!

4. Weather: So the first day I got here was deathly hot. I thought I mightdie and I got a pretty bad sunburn. I just assumed that was how Sorocabawas since I heard it was hotter in the interior than the city. SisterWinters didn´t know either since we were both new to the area so we weren´ttoo excited about the heat! LUCKILY, we found out that that first weekendwas record breaking abnormal heat for the area! THANK GOODNESS!! Then wewere blessed with the past week which has been sooooooooo beautiful! It hasbeen cloudy and breezy and cool! So perfect for the work. We´ve gotten somebeautiful rain too. It has been amazing. I hope it stays this way! Itsgorgeous! Oh and I learned that I have to be a little bit careful tellingpeople a LOVE rain storms because they are really dangerous here. Since thehouses in the city are built one on top of another in very in stable ways,there are lots of slides when it rains and a lot of times houses fall andpeople die when it rains hard...so most people here are very afraid of bigrain storms. Crazy, eh?

Anyway, thats some interesting facts for you.

Other small world info: One of my zone leaders is Elder Gratil. He is fromGilbert and graduated a year after me from Gilbert High! His best friend isTanner Dahl who I was friends with and took to Morp when we had the cowboytheme! So funny! Elder Gratil and I like to reminisce about the amazingrestaurants we miss and especially the Mexican food!

I love the food here though. Its delicious! We always have beans and riceat lunch, and then usually fried chicken, or stroganoff, or a lasagna orpasta thing. Oh and salads here are just lettuce and tomatoes usually.Different but still good! Its yummy. I love it! Our ward is really great tous! I love them all!

Oh and last thing: We finally met with our Ward Mission Leader and thecounselor in the bishopric that is over the ward mission plan and they areawesome! The leader was just called last Sunday but they both have greatideas and plans and really want to work. I´m so excited to work with them!

Sister Erin Knudsen...

We are so excited that Erin will be serving an 18 month mission in Sao Paulo, Brazil for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints! We know that her testimony will touch many, and her spirit will lift those who do not yet have the knowledge of the gospel in their lives. I will keep this blog updated with her letters, photos, and new addresses. Please comment, we would love to hear from all of you and she will treasure this when she get's home! We sure miss her, but are staying strong because we know that she is serving the Lord, and that is amazing.